Death is a tragedy, no matter who it is. When someone dies young, however, it’s especially tragic. Some young athletes live a long life and go on to accomplish great things, but some are cut short of fulfilling their potential. These are ten college basketball players whose lives were tragically lost before their due time.
When did these once-promising college basketball players meet their unfortunate fate?
10. Chris Street – University of Iowa, 1993
Street was born in 1972 in Leon, Iowa. During high school, he was a three-sport athlete — excelling in baseball and football, but Street pursued basketball above all else. Street played in 28 games as a freshman at Iowa and averaged five points and five rebounds per game. As a sophomore, he nearly doubled his production, averaging 10.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. In the first 15 games of the 1992–93 season, Street averaged 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. In what would be the final game of his life, he scored 14 points, scooped up eight rebounds, and extended his record of made free throws to 34 in a 65–56 loss to Duke University. In that game, his 33rd and 34th consecutive free throws set an Iowa school record.
On January 19, 1993, following a team dinner at the Highlander Inn outside of Iowa City, Street was killed when he collided with a snow plow on the highway. After his death, Iowa Hawkeye Men’s Basketball Head Coach Tom Davis famously said of the big man, “Chris represented all that is good about the Midwest and the state of Iowa. He was open, caring, honest, loving, and lived life to the fullest every day.” Street’s number 40 was retired by the University of Iowa’s Men’s Basketball team at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on February 6, 1993. At the end of each season, the Chris Street Award is given to the Hawkeye player or players who best exemplify the spirit, enthusiasm, and intensity of Chris Street.
9. Oscar Frayer – Grand Canyon University, 2021
The 23-year-old Antelope standout died in a car accident in Northern California in the early hours of March 23, 2021. Frayer’s older sister, Andrea Moore, and a third person in their vehicle also were killed in the crash. The 6’6 forward started in Grand Canyon’s 86-74 loss to the University of Iowa in the first round of the NCAA tournament just a week prior to his death. He finished the game with eight points, five assists, three blocks, and a steal. It was his 107th start for GCU. His final message to his team on Twitter said, “It’s forever love.”
8. Hank Gathers – Loyola Marymount University, 1990
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As a collegiate junior in 1989, Eric Wilson “Hank” Gathers Jr. became the second player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season. Gathers was a consensus second-team All-American as a senior in 1990. Gathers began his college basketball career with the University of Southern California Trojans but transferred with teammate Bo Kimble to Loyola Marymount after his freshman year. Playing under Lions Head Coach Paul Westhead and his fast-paced system, Gathers was a three-time first-team All-WCC selection.
Gathers was found to have an abnormal heartbeat (exercise-induced ventricular tachycardia), and was prescribed a beta blocker, Inderal. Gathers collapsed again with 13:34 left in the first half of the semifinal game against the Portland Pilots. He had just scored a dunk on an alley-oop pass from point guard Terrell Lowery that put the Lions up 25–13. Thirteen seconds later, while positioned around midcourt in the Lions’ full-court press, he collapsed a yard or two away from Pilots point guard Erik Spoelstra. Shortly after, he stopped breathing. Gathers was pronounced dead at nearby Marina Del Rey Hospital at 6:55 p.m. He was 23 years old. His No. 44 was retired by the Lions, who also placed a statue of him in his honor outside their home arena Gersten Pavilion.
7. Danny Rumph – Western Kentucky University, 2005
Rumph was born in Philly in 1983. His collegiate career was not one that was league-bound, but Rumph attended Parkway Center City Middle College, where he played basketball for two seasons and averaged 22.1 points during his senior season in 2000–2001. The following year, he attended Maine Central Institute, a preparatory school, where he averaged 18 points and 7 assists per game. Rumph joined Western Kentucky University in 2002.
During his junior season, he started 29 of 31 games, averaging 9.1 points and 3.0 assists per game for the Hilltoppers as they went 22–9 overall and 9–5 in the Sun Belt Conference. On May 8, 2005, Rumph participated in two pickup matches in a local recreation center. While walking off the court after having just made the game-winning basket, Rumph collapsed to the court and was later pronounced dead at the Albert Einstein Medical Center. An autopsy determined the cause of death was cardiomyopathy, an inflammation of the heart.
6. Wayne Estes – Utah State University, 1965
The first active college player to die while in the NCAA, Estes’ death is a strange one. The 6’6 All-American forward played for the Utah State Aggies from 1962 to 1965. Wayne is the fourth-leading scorer in Utah State history, with 2,001 points, and the fourth-leading rebounder (893). He holds school records for career points per game (26.7), free throws made in a career (469), consecutive 10-point games (64), points in a season (821), points per game in a season (33.7), points in a game (52), and rebounds in a game (28). He was the second leading scorer in the nation in 1965, just behind Rick Barry.
On the night of February 8, 1965, Estes played the last game of his college basketball career against the University of Denver. He scored 48 points during the game, surpassing 2,000 for his career. After the game, Estes stopped at the scene of a car accident near campus. While crossing the street, he brushed against a downed power line and was fatally electrocuted. Estes was posthumously given All-American honors by the Associated Press and also earned a posthumous consensus Second Team All-American distinction. His number, #33, was posthumously retired by the Aggies.
5. Lauren Hill – Mt. Saint Joseph University, 2015
Hill is the only women’s basketball player to pass away while in the league. At 19 years old in 2015, Hill’s battle with cancer became public when the NCAA agreed to allow Mount St. Joseph to play Hiram College on November 2, 2014, thirteen days prior to the original basketball game date of November 15, 2014, so she could play. Hill raised $1 million for pediatric cancer research with a Cincinnati telethon for The Cure Starts Now Foundation. The foundation then donated $1 million to brain cancer research and continues to grow and donate over $4.7 million to medical research in 2015.
Hill’s family signed her up for hospice care on December 1, 2014. After Hill played in four games and made five layups, Mount St. Joseph basketball coach Dan Benjamin announced that she would not play in future games but would like to stay on as an honorary coach. Hill served as an assistant coach for the team. Hill was given an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree by Mount St. Joseph University, named to the all-conference first team in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, and the Pat Summitt Courage Award. Hill died on April 10, 2015, at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
4. Ryan Francis – University of Southern California, 2006
Francis’ story is a tragic one. As the starting point guard for the Trojans, averaged 7.1 points, 3.7 assists, and 1.6 steals per game as a true freshman. Francis was a standout at Glen Oaks High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He averaged 22 points and five assists per game in his senior year and led his team to a perfect 36–0 record and the Class 4A state title in 2005. Francis also won the MVP award for the state championship game and was named the 2005 Louisiana Class 4A Outstanding Player.
Francis was shot and killed on May 13, 2006, after the driver of another vehicle pulled up beside Francis at a red light, got out, and started shooting at about 3:30 a.m. According to the police report, Ford was driving an SUV and pulled in front of the car carrying Francis after recognizing the car’s driver as someone he had been involved in a dispute with earlier that night. Francis was sitting in the back seat where he was shot multiple times. USC established The Ryan Francis Endowed Scholarship in honor of Francis. For the 2006–2007 season, the Trojans wore a black #12 on their jerseys in honor of Francis.
3. Terrence Butler – Drexel University, 2023
Drexel guard Terrence Butler made the choice to end his life in his apartment on August 2, 2023, much to the surprise of those close to him. Butler was a native of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, according to the school’s website. He is survived by his parents and two sisters, both of whom also play college basketball. He averaged 17.8 points and seven rebounds per game in high school. The 6’7 forward was also named to the Coastal Athletic Association’s Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll in 2022. His teammates said they remembered him as a hard-working, lovable teammate, student, and friend.
2. Patrick Dennehy – Baylor University, 2003
Your teammates are supposed to be the people you can trust the most. They’re the ones you share your life with. In the case of Dennehy, however, a teammate would be his finality. On June 12, 2003, Dennehy was shot by teammate Carlton Dotson, which set off a chain reaction that led to a broader scandal in which Baylor’s basketball program was investigated and punished for numerous infractions by the NCAA. In the summer of 2003, after redshirting the 2002–2003 season, Dennehy was preparing to play for the Bears in the upcoming 2003–2004 college basketball season. That summer, reports surfaced that Dennehy and Dotson were concerned about their safety. The pair had purchased two pistols and a rifle and practiced firing them at a farm north of Waco.
An affidavit filed on June 23, which was unsealed on June 30, seeking a search warrant for Dennehy’s computer says that an informant in Delaware told police that Dotson, who by now was at home in Maryland, told a cousin that he had shot and killed Dennehy during an argument while firing guns in the Waco area. On July 21, Dotson was charged with Dennehy’s murder and taken into custody in Maryland. The search for Dennehy continued until July 25, when a badly decomposed body was found in a gravel pit near Waco and was taken to Dallas for an autopsy. Medical examiners determined the body was Dennehy’s. His death was ruled a homicide after a preliminary autopsy report showed that Dennehy died of gunshot wounds to the head. Upon discovery of Dennehy’s remains, the head and body were discovered in separate locations.
1. Terrence Clarke – University of Kentucky, 2021
Clarke was a standout for the Kentucky Wildcats and a future first-round pick in the NBA. Clarke was a consensus five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American. On April 22, 2021, Clarke died in a car crash at the age of 19 in Los Angeles, California, just three months before he could hear his name get called on draft night. In the 2021 NBA Draft, League Commissioner Adam Silver posthumously drafted Clarke in the first round during a ceremony that was held between the 14th and 15th pick selections where Clarke was projected to be picked.
